Driverless cars are to be tested in rural locations where stray sheep roam across roads.

The self-driving vehicles will run on single-track roads in the Highlands and Islands to see how they handle “unique” hazards.

The move coincides with plans to road-test autonomous buses with passengers on the Forth Road Bridge in 2020.

A rural trial will also reveal how vehicles cope with variable mobile coverage.

Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said: “The conditions of the roads can be more challenging – narrower and single-track with passing places.

“On some of them, one moment you will have four bars of 4G, then you go round a bend and may have no 4G connection, so how will vehicles adapt to that? It’s important that if this technology is going to be used we can have the same level of assurances that we may have in our more urban areas.”

Driverless cars, similar to this one, will be tested on rural roads in Scotland (Image: TASS/Getty)